It’s all in the name
What one calls a terrorist another calls a liberator. It is all in the name; how those who hold power or desire power wish the masses to perceive something. The media obviously plays its part in all this.
Take the Taipei Times article “Environmentalists protest over EIA” (July 26, page 3). Environmentalists? Images of long-haired hippie types stuck in a 1960s mindset rambling on about free love and Mother Earth come to mind. And I am pretty sure that is just what some politicians, developers and corporations want you to think. “Yeah, the lunatic fringe up in arms again causing disruptions!”
The first paragraph of the article read as follows:
“Environmentalists yesterday protested against an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for an expansion project at a naphtha cracker complex that failed to include fine particles.”
You would be forgiven for thinking it was just those pesky environmentalists that have a problem with an environmental impact assessment for the fourth phase expansion project at Formosa Plastics Corp’s sixth naphtha cracker complex in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). Some group of crazy green bunny-huggers whining about fine particles not being listed.
Now, let us delete “environmentalists” and give a more accurate description of those that typically are present at these protests against the expansion projects down in Mailao:
“Concerned local residents, civic groups, fishers, farmers, workers, teachers, academics, parents, lawyers, doctors, conservation and environmental groups yesterday protested against an EIA for an expansion project at a naphtha cracker complex that failed to include fine particles.”
OK, it is a bit long, but you get the point. It sounds different, doesn’t it? It changes things. We relate to these people. They are us. They do not sound so loony.
However, the Taipei Times so often boxes these regular folks and organizations as “environmentalists” or “activists” or some other “ism.” I am sure the so-called developers must smile at this subtle eroding of Joe Citizen’s image and credibility.
You see. It is not just environmentalists that are pissed off with Formosa Plastics and its toxic hell down in Mailiao. After all the pollution, fires, greed and lack of ethics, after soaring cancer rates, dirty air and smokey gray skies, people have had enough. They want to know why the Environmental Protection Agency allows this toxic nightmare to continue.
However, others would have you believe it is just some nutty environmentalists who have a problem with it.
T.W. Sousa, Yunlin County
All bark and no bite
A couple of days ago I wrote to the Taipei Times about Want Want Group chairperson Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明).
Today I read that the group got the deal approved anyway, as it was quickly pushed through by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
I also read the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blasted the “mega media merger.”
It is all very nice to blast, but so typical of the Democratic People’s Party.
What are they going to do about it?
Why not arrange a protest and encourage people not to buy or read any of Want Want’s newspapers or other publications?
Why not arrange a protest and encourage people not to watch any of the Want Want Group’s channels?
Why not arrange a protest and encourage people to cancel their Multimedia on Demand (MOD)?
I will. All it shows are reruns and the old movies I can watch for free on the Internet.
If all DPP voters and possibly some independents keep this up for a few months, the Want Want Group will surely go out of business.
However, I know the DPP, they only bark, but never bite.
Gert Floor, Cingshui, Greater Taichung
The real Olympic spirit
The Summer Olympic Games, held in London this year, are the greatest sports event in the world, drawing athletes from myriad nations to one city.
The games are an important school to educate participants and spectators in important values, including self-sacrifice and respect for one’s adversaries. They provide an opportunity to overcome the logic of individualism and selfishness, which often characterize human relations, in order to make room for the logic of brotherhood and love, the only things that can lead to promoting the common good on every level.
The games hold important symbolic value and, for that reason, they should be looked upon with special fondness and attention.
In the spirit of the “Olympic truce,” the international sporting event provides an opportunity to promote peace and reconciliation throughout the world.
The Olympic truce tradition, originating in 8th century BC Greece, asked that all wars and conflict be suspended before and during the games as a way to make sure participants could safely travel to and from the Olympic venue.
Let us pray that all nations will respect this truce and learn to live together in complete love and harmony.
Paul Kokoski, Ontario, Canada
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
Last week, 24 Republican representatives in the US Congress proposed a resolution calling for US President Donald Trump’s administration to abandon the US’ “one China” policy, calling it outdated, counterproductive and not reflective of reality, and to restore official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, enter bilateral free-trade agreement negotiations and support its entry into international organizations. That is an exciting and inspiring development. To help the US government and other nations further understand that Taiwan is not a part of China, that those “one China” policies are contrary to the fact that the two countries across the Taiwan Strait are independent and
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